Am I the only person?

[Brother Adam]

I talked to Fr. Dominic on campus today. He basically said it just isn't that important. That he isn't really one for the charastmatic stuff but the Church hasn't said anything against it. He also believes sometimes alot of the speaking in tongues stuff is just noise, but there really isn't anything wrong with just making noise.

I'm almost more confused than when I started

And it makes it frustrating too because I need to get to confession and now I don't feel really comfortable going. (but that is a different unrelated story) grrr...

[p0lar_bear]

I :wub: Fr. Dom, but I can see how he might not be the best person for this one...

[Brother Adam]

Well. I'm just going to let it be. I'm not Protestant anymore so I can't declare if it is right or wrong. I'll just be a good Catholic and be patient.

[Mrs. Bro. Adam]

Am I comfortable around speaking in tounges?

[qfnol31]

[quote name='p0lar_bear' date='Dec 7 2004, 01:30 PM'] You know...I don't generally ask for a lot from Church officials, but I really wish someone whould make an official-type statement or document or whatever on the whole matter so we can stop arguing about it...If they say it's OK, then I can point to that. If they say it's not, I'll still point to that... Any authentic charismatic group is going to be obedient to the Church, so they will change if the Church says so... [/quote]
Actually, I bet this is in need of healthy discussion, and recognizing this, I don't think that the Vatican will make any pronouncements for quite some time.

[IcePrincessKRS]

[quote name='p0lar_bear' date='Dec 7 2004, 03:30 PM'] You know...I don't generally ask for a lot from Church officials, but I really wish someone whould make an official-type statement or document or whatever on the whole matter so we can stop arguing about it...If they say it's OK, then I can point to that. If they say it's not, I'll still point to that... Any authentic charismatic group is going to be obedient to the Church, so they will change if the Church says so... [/quote]
It would be nice... but I would imagine it would be really difficult to examine each and every case to determine if the person really has the gift of tongues or is just faking it. Since it is a gift of the Holy Spirit they can't say speaking in tongues is bad or a "no-no" but I don't suppose it'd be a bad idea if they urged caution.. Similarly I don't think they could speak out and approve it across the board because there are people who fake it out there.

[p0lar_bear]

[quote name='IcePrincessKRS' date='Dec 7 2004, 11:32 PM'] It would be nice... but I would imagine it would be really difficult to examine each and every case to determine if the person really has the gift of tongues or is just faking it. Since it is a gift of the Holy Spirit they can't say speaking in tongues is bad or a "no-no" but I don't suppose it'd be a bad idea if they urged caution.. Similarly I don't think they could speak out and approve it across the board because there are people who fake it out there. [/quote]
I'm not saying we need a case-by-case or anything. But there are a lot of people who claim that the gift of prayer tongues is not legitimate at all or that there are only a handful of people who really have it. A statement saying that prayer tongues are a gift of the Holy Spirit (or not) and a statement approving (or not) the prevalence would not have to say that every single case is legit, only that they could be. The Holy Father has spoken directly about the gift of prophecy and the gift of knowledge, urging discernment in both of course. He has also mentioned the gift of tongues, but there has been no distinction made between prophetic tongues (which need interpreters) and prayer tongues (which don't).

Just because there are people who fake it (and I'm quite sure there are), doesn't mean there can't be a statement saying that prayer tongues are a very common gift of the Holy Spirit. Just like the fact that some people fake stigmatas doesn't mean the Church can't say that some really do receive the stigmata.

[qfnol31]

Normally Roma waits about 50 years or more to make a decision.

[p0lar_bear]

Well then, since the charismatic gifts were a topic of discussion at Vatican II, they have about 8 years left...

[qfnol31]

Well, when did the actual movement arise, the movement as we know today?

[p0lar_bear]

Well, in Belgium, apparently before Vatican II, but not in the States until 1970-something

[qfnol31]

It'll probably be a while. The only thing that wasn't up for discussion for a while that I can recall in recent history is women in the Priesthood. That went on for 25 years.

I doubt, and for good reasons, that the Vatican will say something any time soon, if ever (I'm actually wondering if they ever will, they normally don't say much about private devotions).

[p0lar_bear]

Besides, while it may be common for the Church to wait 50 years for a full-out exposition on something (I'm not sure about that)...It's very common for the Church either to encourage/approve or to condemn something. If the movement, including the gift of prayer tongues, is from the devil or leading people astray, it seems to me the Church would be seriously failing in her duty to wait 50 years to say so. She would also seem to be failing in her duty if the gift of prayer tongues is not legitimate or almost never legitimate, to praise the movement and not point out the problem. Statements have been made pointing out the problems of obedience to authority and the danger of seeking the gifts more than the Giver. Why then would they have to wait 50 years to point out that either prayer tongues are not legitimate or that they are rare?